Season finale of NESCAFÉ Basement is a celebration of the talent, effort and the love for music of the youth of Pakistan. We present to you Nescafé Basement’s largest ever ensemble of 21 young talented musicians honoring one of the most inspiring and accomplished guitarists of Pakistan. December 1990, a young boy of 14 picked up the, never to put it back. With true passion, he decided to dedicate his life to master the art of playing the guitar. And since then he’s never looked back.

Today, he’s arguably the best guitarist not only in Pakistan, but across South Asia. Acknowledged and awarded by a scholarship from Berklee College of Music, USA on his outstanding musical achievement in 1996, he’s the only artist from Pakistan to be signed up by global record labels (US and Finland) for an instrumental album release “An Abstract Point of View” in 2002. But his most important achievement is the fact that he has inspired thousands of people to pick the guitar up and learn the craft in a vocalist dominated world. Respected by one and all throughout the music fraternity, today we celebrate his two and a half decades of love, effort and dedication towards keeping music alive in Pakistan. Today we celebrate Faraz Anwar.

When Naseer and Shahab first released Za Sta Pashan Na Yam, the song took Pakistan by storm. Although several musicians had released well-received versions of pop and rock songs sung in Pushto, this was perhaps the first to crossover into the mainstream. The remarkably catchy chorus, which translates into “I am not like you”, is a rejoinder to those obsessed with material gains and advantages. The lyrics continuously re-affirm the ability to love as being the one thing that what sets us apart from those chasing shallow pursuits. The song’s original had a stadium-rock feel to them, and the Coke Studio version seeks to amplify that with the inclusion of legendary guitarist Faraz Anwar. The veteran musician specifically requested the producers to let him join in on the track, which had the space and the mood that allowed him to launch into one of his trademark performances. The rest of the houseband has also structured its compositions to allow the entire song to be an even grander version of its own self while retaining the distinctive identity which had led to its original success.

The Coke Studio composition has transformed Sajjad Ali’s soft pop ballad into a candlelit rock ballad with monochromatic piano lines. Sajjad through his vocal delivery and heartwarming lyrics has painted the ballad in soft, more mature shadings that comes out as pained but the effect is both beautiful and comforting. The eastern influence of the flute and dhol brings the underlying melancholy to the song, evoking a sense of nostalgia. Celebrated Faraz Anwar returns with an exemplary solo that builds in intensity as it progresses. The short and sharp shockwave sees Anwar’s fretwork at its finest adding dramatic rock oomph to the mellow and warm song.

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Mizraab (“a plectrum made by hand from a continuous strand of iron used to strike the strings of the sitar”) is a progressive rock and metal band from Pakistan, formed in 1997. Founded by vocalist, lead guitarist and songwriter, Faraz Anwar. The band have been influential on many contemporary musical artists, and have gained a large cult following despite garnering little radio or music video airplay.Continue Reading ‘Mizraab – Audiography (320Kbps) (2004-14)’